Almac Group extends personalised cancer vaccine production facilities

The Almac Group, a CDMO serving the pharmaceutical and biotech sectors globally, is expanding its Edinburgh Technopole facility to allow scale-up of its personalised cancer vaccine activities. Doubling its footprint in the Fleming Building to over 15,000 square feet, the company is investing in new laboratories and office space to meet growing demand for its services. Alastair Hay, Account Manager – Peptides, explained: “Personalised cancer vaccines based on neo-antigenic peptides is an exciting new era for oncology, and our Technopole site already has the world’s first GMP-certified facility specifically for the production of these peptide vaccines for clinical trials. Around a quarter of our existing resources in Edinburgh are currently engaged in cancer vaccine production, and the entirety of the new space will be dedicated to this application.”

The expansion will provide a four-fold increase in the GMP manufacturing footprint, as well as supporting administrative space. Alastair continued: “Having first moved to Edinburgh Technopole just a few years ago, we have been keen to further extend our footprint on site. Our main challenge in the rapidly developing field of personalised cancer vaccines is to stay ahead of global demand, and the new laboratories – together with a commensurate growth in our staff numbers – will help to ensure that we are well placed to achieve this.”

Simon Hoad, Executive Director for Edinburgh Technopole, commented: “Edinburgh Technopole is proud to support Almac and its ground-breaking research into personalised cancer medicine, by providing the facilities for the world’s first GM-certified facility for peptide-based personalised cancer vaccines. We are committed to helping innovative and growing businesses through continued expansion, and have recently started the construction of three new buildings, as well as a new restaurant and collaboration areas. Each building will provide up to 20,000 square feet of additional laboratory and office space, and we expect to welcome the first tenants from Q2 2019.”